Big 12 Shake-Up

I have a plan that kills two birds with one stone. The Big 12 should borrow two great ideas from their sister conferences of the SEC and Pac-10. When the SEC split into two divisions they did not want to break up some of the traditional rivalry games, so they paired up teams from the east and west that play year in and year out (Tenn/Bama, Auburn/Georgia, Florida/LSU, ect.) I haven't really seen anything lately, but I remember reading an article a while back about the lack of rivalries in the Big 12. Well, I guess I wouldn't call it a lack of rivalries because the conference does have some great rivals, but the formation of the Big 12 has not created any new rivalries. If fact it has severely decreased the rivalry between Oklahoma and Nebraska in my opinion. So I suggest that these teams play each other every year.

Nebraska-Oklahoma
Colorado-Texas
Kansas State-Texas A&M
Missouri-Texas Tech
Iowa State-Oklahoma State
Kansas-Baylor

This would reestablish the NU/OU series as one of the nations premier games. And with Colorado and Kansas State improving those series would be very interesting.

The idea taken from the Pac-10 is that the new annual series takes the place of a non-conference game, so the Big 12 would play a nine game conference schedule. With the addition of the 12th game the Pac-10 chose to play a nine game conference schedule so that each team would play every other team. This would drastically improve the strength of schedule for most teams. For example, Texas would basically replace Arkansas State with Colorado. Also, with the addition of an extra conference game teams from the north and south would play each other more often possible creating other rivalries. Here is a comparison of the teams from the north that Texas is scheduled to play.

Actual Schedule:
2006 - Iowa State, @Nebraska, @Kansas State
2007 - @Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas State
2008 - @Colorado, Missouri, @Kansas
2009 - Colorado, @Missouri, Kansas
2010 - Same as 2006
2011 - Same as 2007
2012 - Same as 2008
2013 - Same as 2009

If 9th Game is Added:
2006 - Colorado, Iowa State, @Nebraska, @Kansas State
2007 - @Colorado, @Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas State
2008 - Colorado, Missouri, @Kansas, @Nebraska
2009 - @Colorado, @Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska
2010 - Colorado, Iowa State, @Nebraska, @K-State
2011 - @Colorado, @Iowa State, Nebraska, K-State
2012 - Colorado, Missouri, @Kansas, @K-State
2013 - @Colorado, @Missouri, Kansas, K-State

So by adding the 9th game Texas would play Nebraska 6 times in 8 years as opposed to 4 times under the current schedule. I think that would be great for college football, the Big12, and most importantly the fans.

I came up with two cons to this suggestion. First, this would probably produce more re-matches in the conference championship game. They could get rid of the game but that won't happen because the game makes too much money. And the second problem that this system could cause is it would make it harder for Kansas, Iowa State, and Baylor to become bowl eligible. Those teams need that 4th non-conference game to become bowl bound.

As always, thanks for wasting your time reading this. Give me your suggestions.

Major changes at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium

I've been meaning to post about the additions to the Stadium this summer, but I'm just now getting around to it. I've been keeping up with the construction all summer and it has been amazing to see the changes. For those who don't know anything about the project here is the run down. After the A&M game last year the north end zone horseshoe was torn down to build a new north end zone. The new seats will be about 30 yards closer to the field. For this season the crew finished most of the lower bowl of the horseshoe, although a portion of the northwest section will not be ready for the first few games. The entire project should be completed by the beginning of the 2008 season with club seats, suites, and the upper deck added. The facade will match the East side facade that was completed in 1998. In my opinion this is the most important addition to DKR (although the removal of the track before the 1999 season paved the way for this) because it help trap the noise and keep it in the stadium. The old horseshoe was so far away that it was hard to feel apart of the game sitting there. Also, the temporary bleachers in the south end zone will be back again this season. They will hold an additional 6,500 fans this season as opposed to 4,000 last year. I can't wait to get a closer look at the TCU game in a few short weeks and will hardly be able to contain myself at the Arkansas game next season. Check out the webcam.

No More Arkansas State

College football is right around the corner and one of the topics I've been thinking and reading about is scheduling. It is a very complex issue, but I feel like college football does a very average job as a whole scheduling. One reason teams do poorly in scheduling is there is no incentive to schedule strongly. Good match ups are great for TV and can help the profile of many teams, but the current system does not really reward teams for playing a nice schedule. Another factor is scheduling is the loyalty of most college football fans. Most universities are selling the majority of there games out, so if the fans will show up for Troy why schedule USC. The main reason for the post is what I would like Texas' schedule to look like in future years.

I would really like the Horns to play at least two BCS schools per year. They should play mid-level teams from the major conferences most years, and every 4th and 5th year I would like to schedule a "huge" game, like the Ohio State game of the past two seasons. To fill the other two non-conference games I would like to play mostly Texas non-BCS teams and throw in a few other traditionally good non-BCS schools. I would also like to make those game two-for-one, meaning they would play twice in Austin and the Horns will play them on the road once. I think my schedule would be great for the fans, because there are some great road trips and its not so bad playing Rice and SMU when you have two other intriguing match ups. He is my ideal schedule for the Horns for the next ten years. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on this so there are many teams that could be substituted but I think you get the general point of what I would like the schedule to look like.

2007: Arizona, TCU, @UCF, @Ole Miss
2008: @Arizona, Arkansas, Rice, @UTEP
2009: UCF, @Arkansas, @Rice, Ole Miss
2010: UTEP, @Michigan, Rice, Stanford
2011: UCF, Michigan, @Stanford, SMU
2012: UTEP, Georgia Tech, @TCU, @Illinois
2013: Rice, @SMU, @Georgia Tech, UCLA
2014: SMU, @UCLA, @Rice, Illinois
2015: Rice, @Alabama, UTEP, Syracuse
2016: Southern Miss, Alabama, @Rice, @Syracuse

Note: TCU, UCF, Arkansas, UTEP, Rice, and UCLA are on Texas' Future Schedule